New Zealand 2011 trip, Day 13, Jan 15th: Westport & Pancake Rocks

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1/15 10:17pm Punakaiki Beach Hostel

(Wendy starts writing the journal)...

Had yogurt for for breakfast (2 types). Lugged all our bags/food/supplies back into the stuffed car, and went to the Takaka village market/fair which was near the library. Used the free internet for a little bit (emailed family about engagement) and walked around the market. There were these cool wooden bowls for sale. The one i liked was $285nz so i passed.

Had a spinach chickpea fried thing at the fair. We walked up and down takaka st, and looked at a lot of cool pottery. Was going to buy some bowls but matt said no.

Walked back to the market and checked internet. Matt used Airone (name of Macbook) and i used my iphone. Bad weather forecast on the west coast for the next 4 days.

(Matt takes over the journal)

We debated about where to go (had planned to go west coast). Bought some apples and onions at the fair before heading to Pupu springs again ~11:30am. But again it was tough to see much into the famous spring water.

A look at Pupu Springs, the largest, clearest spring in Australasia. No swimming allowed...

Wendy drove for the 1st time in NZ, from the parking lot to the highway (3km). Now she could appreciate my driving skills even more. Just like me, her natural instinct was to run off the side of the road when an on coming car approaches (since it feels like the bulk of the car should be on your right side). Also, she reached to the left side of the steering wheel for the turn signal (flipping the windshield wipers), just like me the first 2 days.

We left Takaka ~noon and retraced our drive up the scenic pass, following a slow tractor trailer. Just past the top of the pass, we took a short detour towards Hartford Hole, in an area that was used as Chetland Forest in LOTR (the scenes after the prancing pony when the hobbits question whether or not to follow Aragorn, and ask about 2nd breakfasts). Some cool rock about. Also stopped at a lookout on the way down. It was a 10 min RT hike, but had bugs.

The view from a short hike to a lookout, on our way back from Takaka...

Cool rocks in this area. A look as we head south...

Stopped in Mukeuta for lunch. Had some battered dory (fish) and chips and a burger at an asian food place. We used our ketchup bottle with the fries, since they charge extra for small ketchup packets (and napkins too).

We were driving through fruit country, passing lots of cherry trees and fruit stands. Was tempted to buy 5kg of nectarines for $8.50, but they were very ripe and wouldn't have lasted.

Clouds were developing as we drove some scenic highways. Good traffic for the most part. Make arrangement with BBH in Pukakaeri. Eventually we reach the coast, head north to Westport, fill up on gas, and shop at Countdown for yogurt, veggies.

Wendy read about a seal colony at Taraguana Bay, 16km from Westport. It didn't disappoint, as there were many baby seals. Wendy gushed over them. Lots of clouds building over the ocean, but some sun streaking through.

When we parked at the seal colony, some Wekas came and gave us an inspection...

The Weka is one of many flightless native NZ birds that evolved on the island, since there were no mammals on NZ until the recent colonialization...

We followed a trail to the seal colony...

A look at the rocky coast, and colony lookout...

I explored further up the trail, and found this cool sign...

The telephoto lens proved valuable again, as there were plenty of seals in the rocks below...

These seals had interesting eyes...

We then drove down the coast, along a steep hilled rainforest. Quite scenic, with occasional evening sun emerging. Wendy noticed a Jade Gallery off the road, and we stopped for a quick look. Turns out this was owned by a 3rd generation Jade miner, who's family was integral to Jade mining in NZ. He filled us in on lots of cool facts. Paul Honey was his name. He showed us his personal collection. Quite authentic and special.

Heading south on the west coast...

We checked out this Jade collection, at Paul Honey's house. Turned out to be quite an intimate presentation on the history of Jade in NZ...

We reached our hostel at 7:30pm, and we happy to find our room just half a block from the beach. We drove a short ways up the road to check out the pancake rocks, in case viewing would be better tonight instead of tomorrow morning.

Heading south on the west coast, greatful the the periodic sun that illuminated the coast...

A vista point on the road...

Our backpackers hostel for the night...

We made the 5 minute drive to Pancake Rocks parking lot, and wandered out along the coast. The 2nd pic has a small land bridge...

This trail reminded us a little of Menocino, CA...

Here they are: Pancake Rocks! Appropriately named...

The sun was mostly hidden by the clouds, but conditions were decent for photos...

I played with my ND-grad filter, give the ocean horizen. The 2nd pic is supposed to have several faces in the rock...

Then we returned and cooked up dinner. Leftover lamb for Wendy, a WG for me (world's greatest burrito). The WG effort didn't pan out so well, largely due to Watties baked beans flavor.

Dinner at the hostel kitchen...

Did laundry ($2), and hung up clothes (no dryer).

There was a lot of activity in the hostel, with a group of 6 making crepes in the kitchen for their dessert. Wendy and I had some vanilla bean yogurt for dessert.

The showers fluctuate hot and cold here. My camera battery charger for my old pocket cam broke tonight. Good thing I have 2 other working cameras on hand.